Exploring the world of Television and Movie crossovers, and the alternate realities of the big and small screen.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Mayberry, TVCU

Finally, I'm blogging about Mayberry. Sometimes when I get to a certain blog, I am baffled that it took so long to get there, but then, in my attempt to balance the types of shows and films I cover, and the rate in which I post, I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on myself for taking this long to get to this classic television franchise.

1952 - 1958--ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (TELEVISION SERIES)--Clark Kent moves to Los Angles (a great Metropolis) and becomes Superman. NOTES: THERE ARE A LOT OF HINTS LEADING THAT THIS SERIES IS IN CHICAGO, BUT AS TOBY O'BRIEN POINTED OUT, THEY HAVE TO BE NEAR THE DESERT, BECAUSE WHENEVER THEY LEAVE THE CITY, THEY SEEM TO BE IN THE DESERT. SO I'M THINKING L.A. IT'S GOOD TO HAVE THE TWO SUPERMEN LIVING FAR FROM EACH OTHER, TO EXPLAIN WHY THEY DIDN'T INTERACT MORE OFTEN. THIS SERIES WILL CROSS WITH I LOVE LUCY, WHICH IS WHY SUPERMAN EXISTS IN THE TVCU. Apparently whoever designed the architecture of Mayberry had also worked up in the Metropolis area. Perhaps, like Mike Brady, he just keeps putting out the same designs over and over. Note that because of the Wizard, the world had forgotten that Superman existed, so when this Clark makes his debut, the world knows him as the first and only Superman. This Superman is very public, and the world knows of his existence. He inspires a second age of super-heroes (and in fact, another age a thousand years in the future!)

February 1960--THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW--"Danny Meets Andy Griffith"--The Williams family drives through Mayberry and are pulled over by Sheriff Andy Taylor. (This show was the pilot for THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW.)

1960 to 1986--THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW--The story of Sheriff Andy Taylor, his son Opie, his Aunt Bee, Deputy Barney Fife, and the town of Mayberry. Eventually a movie will be made about Taylor and Mayberry, thus making the town and its residents a part of modern pop culture.

April 1962--TWILIGHT ZONE--"Hocus-Pocus and Frisby"--More speculation from Toby O'Brien. "Mr. Frisby lived in Pitchville Flats, in an extremely rural area of North Carolina, but probably not too far from Mayberry and Mt. Pilot. At least it was probably close enough for Floyd Lawson's father to visit another woman in that town, because Floyd had an identical twin named Mitchell (Mitchell Lawson?) who liked to hang around Frisby's general store and listen to Somerset Frisby spin his tall tales - even if he didn't believe them. (Toobworld bloodlines are strong, so it could be that Floyd and Mitchell don't have the same father, but instead can trace their ancestry back to the area's first Indian agent, Daniel Lawson.) "

c. 1963 to 1964--THE JOEY BISHOP SHOW--Joey takes a vacation in a cabin located near Mayberry and encounters Deputy Barney Fife.

1964 to 1970--GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C.--Gomer leaves his job as Mayberry, N.C. gas station attendant to serve a a six year term (likely a three year term initially then reenlisted for three more) in the Marines.

November 1965--GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C.--"A Visit From Cousin Goober"--Title is self-explanatory.

March 1966--GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C.--"Opie Joins the Marines"--Well, not really, but the Taylors do come and visit Gomer.

April 1966--GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C.--"Gomer, the Would-Be Hero"--Ted Baxter, as a radio news anchor under the stage name Don Mills, interviews Gomer and Sgt. Carter. (Note this is speculation taken from Toby O'Brien.)

November 1966--THE LUCY SHOW--"Lucy Gets Caught Up In the Draft"--Due to a clerical error, Lucy Carmichael is drafted into the Marines. She finally gets out of it, and as she leaves, in enters Gomer Pyle.

1968 to 1971--MAYBERRY R.F.D.--The story of farmer Sam Jones and the town of Mayberry.

1969 to 1992--HEE HAW--From Matt Hickman:George Lindsey also played Goober on Hee haw more then once seems he moved form Mayberry to Kornfield Kounty. Which is where all the sketches on Hee haw are set

January 1971--THE NEW ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW--"My Friend, the Mayor"--Politician Andy Sawyer moves his family back to his hometown of Greenwood to become the next mayor. Mayberry residents Goober Pyle, Emmett Clark and Barney Fife make a guest appearance in the pilot.

February 1972--THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES--"The Spooky Fog of Juneberry"--The gang goes to MAYBERRY and helps out Deputy Barney Fife. (Or so James Bojaciuk has convinced me.)

May 1978--GOOBER & THE TRUCKER'S PARADISE--Goober opens his own truck stop.

June 1984--CANNONBALL RUN II--Gomer is tricked into helping a duo trying to win a cross country race. Another one of the competitors is Jackie Chan, who will later go on to many other adventures, and is the descendant of the Shanghai Kid. Note there is also an appearance of one of the Van Helsing family.

April 1986--RETURN TO MAYBERRY--After having moved away, Andy Taylor comes home to visit.

1991 to 1992--HI HONEY, I'M HOME--This series involves a family moving to a new town where only a child neighbor realizes this family was featured on an old TV show. In fact (from the TVCU point of view), this family had been the focus of an early reality show, and were now trying to live a quiet life. June Clever and Eddie Haskell have made appearance on this show. Other former reality show stars appear on this series, including Alice and Trixie of THE HONEYMOONERS, Granpa of THE MUNSTERS, Alice the maid from THE BRADY BUNCH, Sally Rogers of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, Mr. Mooney of THE LUCY SHOW, and GOMER PYLE of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW (and his own series.)November 1993--ANIMANIACS--"Dough Dough Boys/Boot Camping/General Boo-Regard"--Wakko's hair is cut by Floyd, the barber.

April 1997--THE SINGLE GUY--"Vegas Finale"--Either Gomer appears, or someone acting as Gomer based on the character from the film made about Sheriff Taylor and Mayberry.

November 2007--BOSTON LEGAL--One of the attorneys compares their current location to Mayberry.

May 2013--WAREHOUSE 13--From Gordon Long: That bowling ball might have been in Mayberry. In one episode of the Andy Griffith show, Howard is one frame away from bowling a perfect game---the first ever in Mayberry---in what I think was a league match, and the lights go out, but not until Goober bets on Howard's perfect game, putting additional pressure on Howard. I can't remember what happened after they decided to postpone the finish of the game, though... It's not exactly a crossover, but I just realized that the Darling clan who lived near Mayberry must be related to the Duke family. Not only do the patriarchs of the two clans (Briscoe Darling Jr and Uncle Jesse Duke) look and sound alike (yeah, I know, same actor-as-cousin characters principle) but both families have musical abilities (the four Darling sons were played by a country musical group, the Dillards, and the Duke boys' actors John Schneider and Tom Wopat were country singers).

Here's a bit more information about the "Star Trek" connection - it seems that both "Miri" and "The City on the Edge of Forever" used sets from "The Andy Griffith Show", although the latter episode was explicitly set in New York City. There are some nice big pictures compiled here:

Now, this presents an interesting problem: "Forever"'s New York is clearly New York, but Mayberry is clearly Mayberry. It would be easy enough to say that Floyd started as a barber in 1930 NYC before moving to Mayberry mid-century, but that still leaves the problem of "Miri".

One the one hand, it's far more likely that the Enterprise's crew would investigate an apparently abandoned Earth in a major city than a small town; but on the other, the above link notes how Miri's Town is laid out exactly like Mayberry.

(Incidentally, the recent Star Trek novel "DTI: Forgotten History" explicitly states that Miri's world is Earth from a parallel universe, brought into ours by being swapped with an advanced alien supercraft.)

ALTERNATE REALITIES:

DIGIMON UNIVERSE--March 2000--DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS--Aunt Bee and Barney Fife appear in this animated film!!! Are Aunt Bee and Barney Fife appearing on a TV screen or as actual characters in the story?

3 comments:

The aliens would be those who visited Pitchville Flats in that T-Zone episode. They may not have been able to take Mr. Frisby back with them to their world, but they at least got hold of the town's overall blueprints......

Here's a bit more information about the "Star Trek" connection - it seems that both "Miri" and "The City on the Edge of Forever" used sets from "The Andy Griffith Show", although the latter episode was explicitly set in New York City. There are some nice big pictures compiled here:

Now, this presents an interesting problem: "Forever"'s New York is clearly New York, but Mayberry is clearly Mayberry. It would be easy enough to say that Floyd started as a barber in 1930 NYC before moving to Mayberry mid-century, but that still leaves the problem of "Miri".

One the one hand, it's far more likely that the Enterprise's crew would investigate an apparently abandoned Earth in a major city than a small town; but on the other, the above link notes how Miri's Town is laid out exactly like Mayberry.

(Incidentally, the recent Star Trek novel "DTI: Forgotten History" explicitly states that Miri's world is Earth from a parallel universe, brought into ours by being swapped with an advanced alien supercraft.)

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